EDX – Newsletter September

Blake Jarrell - Maresias

The sun rises high above the beautiful surroundings of Maresias. Not only is it a beach and district in Brazil, it's also the source of inspiration for the brand new Blake Jarrell track. Its melodic elements bring out the best in his typical progressive house sound. 'Maresias' rises a sunset-image in the mind, giving you that real life partying on the beach buzz.

Even if you won't make it to any tropical, stunningly beautiful destination this year - this track will at least conjure a dreamy smile on your face.

As with his latest releases 'Borocay/Manila' and 'Galapagos/ Patagonia', the American DJ and producer named his newest production after one of his many travels to surely unforgettable gigs. As an A-class DJ, there's not many venues that haven't been introduced to his block rocking beats yet. As diverse and mind-blowing as his DJ schedule is, so are the styles Blake deals with in his production. Though Jarrell is still often related to the trance and prog-house corner, he has also proven to feel right at home in the tech-house corner.

As a little extra, music lovers can look forward to some beautiful remixes of 'Maresias'. Canadian DJ and producer Arnej, currently rocking the globe with his 'The Strings That Bind Us' and quite a style-adventurer himself, made an even dreamier version of the track, which makes the beach feel so much closer. The Wahi Remix on, the other hand, is a little more techy and carries you away into anticipation about an upcoming party after relaxing at the beach.

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Gareth Emery releases debut artist album ‘Northern Lights’

It took him a lot of sweat and hard work, but Gareth Emery finished his album. Set for release 23rd September the album entitled ‘Northern Lights’ is one to watch out for. It’s full of sublime cuts ranging from progressive house to full on trance, staying true to the genre-defying sound that has made Gareth so popular in recent years.

The first single from the album, entitled 'Sanctuary' featuring the sublime vocals of newcomer Lucy Saunders is currently smashing it and supported by Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Above & Beyond, and its official video managed to rack up 250,000 YouTube views in its first fortnight online.

Gareth Emery has his production sound locked, and while the popularity surrounding him has reached explosive proportions over the last year, the young Brit has been composing his debut full length album; ‘Northern Lights’.

Instead of committing himself to a one dimensional side of electronic music, his talent could only have been fashioned by a sheer diversity of sounds and polished production qualities; eliciting excited and inspiring Trance moments with deep warm compositions sometimes even complimented with classical influences.

"Finishing an artist album was something that evaded me for a while. I think I first promised it back in 2005, which means I’ve spent most of my music career so far trying to deliver the record. However, the thing that most amazed me about this album wasn’t that I’d finally managed to finish it – it was how easy it was. I don’t mean it wasn’t hard work, because of course it was, but the creative and production process was remarkably natural and unforced. For about six months, things just flowed, and this album is the result.”
While ‘Northern Lights’ comes complete with instant Dance floor tracks like ‘Sanctuary’, Gareth constantly changes momentum; executing his classical piano education with vitality and fresh euphoric energy on ‘Too Dark Tonight’ and ‘Fight The Sunrise’.

Through ‘Stars’ and ‘Citadel’, Gareth employs an endlessly array of synthetic elements and irresistible grooves, managing to inject not only home ambience but also arena filling presence. Gareth makes use of every anthemic opportunity and delivers the first single to be released from the album, ‘Sanctuary’ proving his strong creative ability to weave organic live vocals elements with flashes of hands in the air memories. Contrasting to absorbing pads and arps, also expect remarkable digital bass lines as the centrepiece, surrounded by washes of synth swells and penetrating techno drums.

Gareth Emery’s debut artist album ‘Northern Lights’ is a bright labyrinth of exotic and dynamic tracks and between soaring laser-splicing synths he innovates his own unique style of progressive melodies and soothing vocals.

For more information on the ‘Northern Lights’ album click here

Northern Lights track listing
01. Stars (feat. Jerome Isma-Ae
02. El Segundo
03. Too Dark Tonight (feat. Roxanne Emery)
04. Arrival (feat. Brute Force)
05. Into The Light (feat. Mark Frisch)
06. Full Tilt
07. Sanctuary (feat. Lucy Saunders)
08. Citadel
09. Fight The Sunrise (feat. Lucy Saunders)
10. All Is Now (feat. Activa)

Armin van Buuren announces 4th artist album ‘Mirage’

2010 will see another milestone in the already illustrious career of Armin van Buuren when he releases his new artist album, ‘Mirage’, 10th of September. As with previous releases, the album paves the way for a new ‘Armin Only’ world tour.’ Armin Only 2010 — Mirage’ will visit major cities across 5 different continents.

With the new ‘Mirage’ album, Armin introduces a musical side of him fans haven’t heard yet. Says Armin of his newest work; “’Mirage’ has been the biggest project I’ve ever worked on. Work started two years ago when I actually built a completely new studio for this project. Many new techniques were used and most of all I had so much fun creating this with the many people that are involved. It was a journey, an epic one!”

‘Mirage’ reveals a side of Armin his fans haven’t heard yet, and takes in its listeners with new and surprising collaborations. Within the 2 years of endless jamming and producing, Armin worked with Dance music icons Ferry Corsten, BT, and Josh Gabriel, along with the talents of Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nadia Ali, Guy Chambers, Christian Burns and Adam Young of Owl City. To serve as a treat for fans the album was preceded by the purely instrumental floor-filler ‘Full Focus’, released worldwide on the 24th of June.

Inspired and influenced by many different types of music, ‘Mirage’ is more diverse than any other Armin album before Second single ‘Not Giving Up On Love’, a collaboration with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, is a perfect example of that, combining the best of both worlds. Armin: “The Nervo Sisters, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and me met up to write the vocals for ‘Not Giving Up On Love’. I was thrilled to work with them on this. We gave it a more analogue feel with some real drums, to give it a pop-rock feel. We also put a piano top line on the track and then the vocals of Sophie, which I think is a win. It’s a lush summer tune with an epic vocal that gets stuck in your head and cheers you up!”

‘Mirage’ is filled with musical fusions and surprising interpretations, from the orchestral masterpiece of title track ‘Mirage’, deep trance track ‘I Don’t Own You’ and housy ‘Feels So Good’ to the eerie ‘Take A Moment’ and feel-good ‘Drowning’. "There are actually 16 tracks on the album," van Buuren confirmed. "Then there is a deluxe edition where you can buy another five bonus tracks. It's the biggest project I've ever done and I'm really proud to be sharing this with the world right now."

Visit www.arminonly.com to stay up-to-date on the latest news.

Mirage track listing:
01. Desiderium 207 (feat. Susana)
02. Mirage
03. This Light Between Us (feat. Christian Burns)
04. Not Giving Up On Love (vs. Sophie Ellis Bextor)
05. I Don’t Own You
06. Full Focus
07. Take A Moment (feat. Winter Kills)
08. Feels So Good (feat. Nadia Ali)
09. Virtual Friend (feat. Sophie)
10. Drowning (feat. Laura V)
11. Down To Love (feat. Ana Criado)
12. Coming Home
13. These Silent Hearts (feat. BT)
14. Orbion
15. Minack (vs Ferry Corsten)
16. Youtopia (feat. Adam Young)